"Wake up!" Santana screams, hitting Rachel with a pillow. She climbs onto the makeshift bed that she's set up for Rachel in the corner of her room; an air mattress with a bunch of pillows and blankets littered over it. "There's an important voicemail on the phone and it concerns you!" Santana walks out of the room and Rachel looks up from her pillow, eyes slowly fluttering open. Santana's room is bright; the blinds open for one of the first times in a long time. Rachel stirs around on the mattress before standing up, pushing her hair out of her eyes. It's still curled from the night before, part deflated and part matted down from her sleep. Her night had been marvelous – no, beyond marvelous. She doesn't understand how being with Finn had made her feel like she was one of the most important girls in the world to him, but all she knows is that she loves it. She loves how she felt in his arms, how he seemed to do nothing but protect her, how her lips felt against his. She's never kissed someone on the first date before. Part of it makes her feel like she's one of the girls who goes around sleeping with everyone and kissing every boy she sees, but the other half of her feels that nothing else could feel more right than being with Finn and having him hold her in his arms and kiss her. It's one of the only things that makes her feel like she belongs in this era with him.

"Hurry up," Santana calls from the kitchen, her mother sitting at the kitchen table while nursing a Bloody Mary. "Mamá, play the answering machine for Rachel," Santana orders as she opens a kitchen cabinet and pulls out a box of cereal. Rachel traipses into the kitchen and Santana's mom flashes her a smile, beckoning for her to sit at the table with her.

"I'm so proud of you girls," she says, setting her drink down and wrapping an arm around Rachel. "You'll be wonderful, mija – and Rachel? Sweetheart! You're going to make all of the boys want you. Every single one of them will be at this door, begging me for you." Rachel laughs at bit at Santana's mom; she's always liked her. She's been quite hospitable and caring for as long as she's been staying with Santana, making Rachel glad she's staying with the Lopez' of all people.

"What is it?" Rachel asks, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her makeup is gone from the night before; some of her eyeliner smudged around her eyes and her blush still faded onto her cheeks. Santana pours a bowl of cereal for herself and Rachel, the voicemail beginning to play in the background.

"Hello, this is Emma Pillsbury, the stage manager for Lima Community Theatre's production of West Side Story. Um, we'd like to offer up the parts of Anita to Santana and Maria to Rachel, so please call us back with your confirmation! Rehearsals start next Monday at-" The voicemail is cut off, Santana's mother wrapping an arm around Rachel's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"I'm so proud of you, Santana," she says, looking up at her own daughter. "And you, Rachel. Who would have thought I would have such talented girls in my house?" Rachel giggles a bit to herself, Santana dropping off her bowl of cereal in front of her. She scans through her phone and smiles to herself, Rachel trying to look over Santana's shoulder in order to see what she's reading. Santana's mother stands up with her drink and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"Kurt's Riff," Santana says, eyes still glued to her phone. "And Puck's Bernardo." The words fly over Rachel's head, not knowing what Santana's talking about. All she knows is that Kurt's gotten cast in the part he wanted, and Puck's in there somewhere; she's never really taken to him, but she figures that she should be proud and happy for him either way. "Oh, and Blaine's Tony. Congrats, Rach." Rachel giggles happily, looking over at Santana with a smile.

"Is Finn still going to be playing in the pit orchestra?" Santana nods her head and continues to read other texts on her phone, noticing Rachel sitting in her chair and swinging her legs from side to side, smiling like she's gone crazy.

"Rach… are you alright?" Rachel nods her head and smiles.

"Of course I am… why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you just got cast in the summer show as the lead over Quinn, who's going to kill you, and you had a hot date with her boyfriend last night… I don't see why you wouldn't be happy. You've done good. I'm impressed." Rachel looks at Santana, slightly surprised.

"Did Quinn not get cast?"

"Oh, she's cast," Santana explains with a snort. "She's Chorus Girl #4." Rachel looks down into her lap solemnly, guilt consuming her out of nowhere. She instantly feels horrible; not knowing as to whether or not she should feel happy for her own accomplishments or if she should feel sorry for everything that's happened to Quinn. She's been nothing but mean to her, but she doesn't know if she should reach out and try to befriend Quinn Fabray or not. She seems like she could actually be nice if she liked her.

"Oh," Rachel says, looking down in her lap and beginning to pick at her nails. "Well, I'm sure she'll do fine all on her own," she says quietly. "After all, there are no small parts, only small actors." Santana chortles to herself and snorts, rolling her eyes.

"I really don't care about what she has to say about any of it," Santana says plainly. "She's just upset that ever since you got here, her little fake world of perfection and everything has come crashing down." Rachel looks up at Santana through her lashes, feeling her heart beat faster and faster. She doesn't want to feel guilty about this whole problem Quinn is going through. Maybe she should just find a way to leave everyone behind and make sure that Quinn can't become anymore upset with her. She could always just elope with Finn and live happily ever after. That was always an option.

Rachel looks at Santana, finishing her bowl of cereal and walking it over to the sink. There's a beat of silence between the two girls that goes on for too long, Rachel standing at the sink and beginning to twist the hem of her pajama shirt nervously. "Santana," she says quietly, her voice still causing the Latina to look up from her phone and notice Rachel standing by the sink, looking more nervous than ever. She sets her phone down and looks at Rachel, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What is it, Rach?"

Rachel wonders if she should tell Santana about what happened the night before on her date with Finn. All she knows is that the two of them went out to dinner and Rachel came home with a big bouquet of daisies and wet clothes, but Santana didn't make much of it. She was half asleep at the time, anyway. But she wonders if she should look at Santana and tell her that she and Finn did more than just have a conversation with one another the night before. Maybe telling Santana about the fact that they went outside and kissed each other after dinner would be a good idea. Part of her is afraid that Santana had seen her and Finn in his car last night, anyway. He had only kissed her hard enough that she fell on the car horn and somehow caused the alarm to go off.

"I was going to ask you something… about last night," she says nervously, looking down at her hands.

"Ooh, about your date with the Green Giant?" Santana stands and walks over to Rachel, making the brunette begin to feel uncomfortable. "Tell me all about it. Kurt told me that you looked pretty hot, too." Santana looks at Rachel and picks up Rachel's hair with her fingers, making Rachel feel slightly uncomfortable. "He cut it, too. It looks cute."

"Finn was such a gentleman," she begins nervously, playing with her hair in her own fingers. "He pulled my chair out for me at the restaurant and he let me eat the last breadsticks in the basket and he was just… he was so nice to me, Santana." Santana smiles at Rachel and notices how nervous she is for the first time.

"I'm sorry you have to watch him with Quinn all of the time," she says quietly, walking back over to clear her own bowl of cereal. "I kind of find it hard to believe that I was even friends with her. Less than a couple of months ago, she was standing right where you are." Rachel rolls her eyes and looks down at her feet, feeling a lump form in her throat.

"Well, I'm sure when I leave you two can become the best of friends again," she says plainly. "There's no use in having me keep you two from staying as close as you once were." Santana sighs and grabs Rachel by the wrist as she notices her begin to look depressed.

"Hey," she says, raising her voice slightly. "Look, I know it doesn't seem like it most of the time, but I really care for you, Rachel. You're a nice girl and you're going to go really far in life, wherever you end up going. So don't sweat it, okay?" She places a hand on Rachel's shoulder and the other girl looks up at the floor to meet Santana's eyes, smiling brightly. "Besides, you're prettier than Quinn, anyway." Rachel giggles to herself, looking up at Santana with a smile. "You know what we should do?" Santana asks, hopping up so that she's sitting on the counter top behind Rachel, a malicious grin gracing her face. "You should totally sleep with Finn. That would make Quinn want to kill every single person she knows."

Rachel's eyes widen and she feels her breath catch in her throat at Santana's suggestion. "No!" She almost shouts, swatting at Santana's shoulder. "I could never do that to her. Not in a million years." The more she jokes about it however, the more the thought sticks in Rachel's mind, almost refusing to leave. The more she processes the idea of the situation, the more she wants to act on whatever Santana's suggested. She knows how horrible it is to have a relationship with someone before getting married, but she doesn't care. This is a new day, anyway. Santana's had sex with plenty of people before, so has Brittany. Even Quinn has slept with Finn on multiple occasions. It seems like she's the only one who hasn't had sex, and it makes her feel like somewhat of an outcast. Part of her wants to do it in a sense of getting it over with, and she can only imagine about what it would feel like to do something so personal and private with someone like Finn; someone who she's grown to love over her short period of time with him. The thought of it makes her begin to blush and she tries her best to conceal her emotions from Santana, not wanting to let her know that she would actually go through with such a thing if Finn were just as interested.

"Fine," Santana says with a sigh, hopping off of the countertop. "I'm just saying, it would be a great way to get back at her." She walks off to her room, turning her head over her shoulder before closing the door.

"You know, he's going to break up with Quinn either way."

:.:.:

Finn's never had a father figure in his life when he's needed one the most. His own father just missed his teenage years, and then he went through all of the confusing years of teenagerdom without a father figure by his side. It wasn't until Kurt's father met his own mother that he had a father figure in his life, and things only got better when their parents got married. Burt played the role of Finn's own father, and he was glad that he did. There were plenty of conversations that he was glad didn't have to happen with his mom and got to happen with Burt instead.

Naturally, Rachel was the subject of this conversation. He had driven up to Burt's auto shop and parked his car out in the parking lot, walking up towards the garage. Burt was busy working on the engine of some car parked out in the front. Finn shoves his hands and walks towards the car, sighing nervously. He doesn't even know if what he's feeling is right. He figures it's only natural for a new girl to come to town and for him to think that she's cute, but not with as much feeling as he currently has for her. All Finn wants to do is scoop Rachel up in his arms and attack her with kisses, or finding some other way for him to declare that she's his and he's hers, and no one can change that no matter how hard they try. He never would have guessed that all of his problems would be caused by a girl who wouldn't date him and who probably wouldn't even consider dating him even if she could. She's got to find a way to get back to wherever she's from, anyway. Besides, he has Quinn. Rachel's far too dignified to try and be his girlfriend while he's seeing someone else, no matter how much time she spends with Santana.

And yet all of the things she does inadvertently are what make him want her all the more; the way she scrunches up her nose when she laughs or how she uses her hands too much to gesticulate when she speaks and knocks over salt shakers or glasses of water at the dinner table. Her laugh is horribly contagious and he's never had a conversation with her when she isn't laughing or at least smiling, and the way she holds his hand lovingly when they walk together makes him feel like he's about to melt. She doesn't hold it like Quinn does. Quinn holds it as to show the world that he belongs to her and shows him off like he's some kind of prize, but Rachel doesn't do anything like that. She holds his hand simply to hold his hand and make sure that she's always with him, like she's telling him that she'll never leave his side without the need of using any words. The more time he spends around the more he realizes that he's falling in love with one of the most beautiful girls in the world, and there's nothing that can stop him. All he thinks about is how her lips felt against his the night they kissed, and how she went back in to kiss him again after their first kiss; which was somehow enough to reassure him that she loved kissing him just as much as he loved kissing her. Finn Hudson was in love with Rachel Berry, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hey, um, Burt… how's it going?" Finn walks into the shop and rubs the back of his neck nervously, noticing Burt look up from the hood of the car he's working on.

"Hey," Burt says, wiping his pants off on the blue coveralls he's wearing. "What brings you here, bud? I thought you and Kurt were going to take that girl staying here to the mall or something?" Finn smiles, thinking back to what Kurt and Rachel had been talking about earlier. Kurt was going to take her to the mall and show her all of his favorite stores, and if he was right, Santana was going to be going with them.

"Oh, no reason… I just… I just wanted to talk to you about something, that's all." Finn leans against the doorway of the garage and sighs, continuing to rub the back of his neck. It's a nervous habit that he's had forever, and he practices it often. Every time Rachel walks into the same room as him, for example. "I figured that I would come to you for advice, and you know, you always seem to be a great advice giver… or at least Kurt says you are, so I figured I would-"

"It's about a girl, huh?" Burt stands up from the car and walks over to Finn, causing Finn to stand even more awkwardly around the car.

"No, why would it be about a girl?-"

"Listen," Burt says, putting his hand on Finn's shoulder and sighing. "I've seen the way you are around that girl, and I know it's not Quinn that we're here to talk about, okay?" Finn feels his entire face flush. Is it that obvious? All he's done is hold doors open for her and tell her that she looks nice and letting her know that she's going to do just fine no matter where she goes. Maybe he's spent too much time looking at her once or twice, but nothing that's devastatingly obvious. She's just a really pretty girl that he happens to spend a lot of his time around. Shouldn't he act that way around every attractive girl he sees? He's a teenage boy. He's only human.

"W-what would make you think something like that?" Finn asks nervously. "I mean, Quinn and I… sure, we've had our rough spots, but everyone's like that. You can't go through the good without going through the bad."

Burt sighs and runs a hand against his baseball cap. "Look, I'm not going to tell you what to do, because I feel like you already know what's right and what's wrong, okay? I'm just here to give you advice, not tell you what to do. You're not a little kid anymore, and you know how to make your own decisions." He sighs, looking over at Finn with a small smile. "I just know that every time that girl walks through our front door, all you can do is look at her and you get that big dopey smile on your face that just makes it that more obvious." Finn looks down at his feet, almost feeling defeated. If anyone wasn't supposed to know about his harbored feelings for Rachel, it was his parents.

"It's that obvious?" Burt smiles to himself and laughs, looking over at Finn with a grin.

"There really isn't a way to hide your feelings when they're that strong for a girl," he tells him, laughing a bit. "Believe me, I know from experience." Finn laughs a bit and the two men smile for a moment, Burt shoving his hands into the pockets of his overalls. "Look, if you have feelings for this girl, I would tell you to go ahead with whatever you're feeling. Just make sure that Quinn isn't left in the dust on this one, okay? If you have to break anything to her… break it to her gently." There's a moment of silence between the two of them and Finn sighs to himself, picking at the inside of his sleeve.

"You know, she got cast as the lead in the musical. Rachel did, I mean. She's the lead, and so are Santana and Kurt." He thinks for a moment of Rachel singing some big, show-stopping number out on the high school's stage, Finn sitting behind her in the pit and playing his drums the entire time. It makes him proud enough just thinking of her, and he wonders what he would feel like if he were actually there to see her; to hear her. "You guys will have to go see it, I guess, since Kurt and I are both in it, but still. She's going to be really good." Burt laughs a bit before patting Finn on the back.

"Who would have thought the daughter of two missionaries would be a star?" Finn laughs as he watched Burt return back to the car he's been working on, smiling a bit to himself as his words echo in his head. She is a star, he thinks. She's his star.

:.:.:

"Welcome to your first rehearsal," the man says as he paces around the theatre – well, rather wheels around the theatre. The cast is all seated in little fold-out chairs across the stage, some looking at one another awkwardly and other smiling as they watch the director move across the stage and explain things to them. Rachel sits with Santana and Kurt once more, the three of them all holding hands with one another while Rachel's told Blaine to sit next to Kurt. Quinn sits off next to Blaine, sandwiched between him and Puck. Rachel steals glances at her every few moments, only to see the same perpetual scowl stuck to her face. Rachel finds it so intriguing that their director is in a wheelchair. "I'm really excited to be directing my first production for the community theatre, and I'm excited for all you to be a part of it with me."

Rachel leans over to whisper in Kurt's ear. "Why is the director so young again?" She's never been able to understand it from the moment she auditioned, but everyone else in the town seems to be fine with it. She's just used to having old men with gray hair as her directors, not young boys wheeling around in wheelchairs.

"He's a student over at University of Ohio," Kurt explains in a hushed whisper. "He went to McKinley and everything." Rachel shrugs and readjusts herself in her chair, looking back to the director.

"I'll hand out scripts and rehearsal calendars now," he explains, stopping his wheelchair in front of them. "I've decided that I want pit orchestra to be in rehearsals earlier than they normally are, so keep note that you should have music memorized for the most part in three weeks from now. We're going to have this show up and running by the first of July." Rachel giggles and smiles, bouncing up and down in her seat a bit. She's used to the fast-paced setting of this, and it makes her happy.

What makes her even happier, however, is the fact that she gets to see Finn in rehearsals much sooner than she thought she was going to. She didn't know what it was lately, but ever since kissing him, all she wanted was to be close to him. It was like Finn was some kind of drug she was missing out on, and she craved being close to him. She didn't just want a kiss from his anymore; she wanted his hands around her waist and on her legs, their kisses hot and passionate and heated. She wanted physical contact and intimacy with Finn more than she had ever wanted anything from anyone in her entire life. Rachel had been in relationships with boys before, but she had never gone as far to have sex with any of them. She knew that her mother would end up crucifying her if she had ever learned that her daughter had gone ahead and had sex before becoming married, but she didn't care anymore. If she loved Finn as much as she felt that a married woman would love her husband, than she saw no reason as to why she shouldn't have sex with him. She felt like she was ready when she thought about it in her head. She really, truly did.

:.:.:

"I'm not ready!" Rachel screams across the bathroom, Santana rushing over to her and cupping a hand over her mouth, silencing the girl.

"Shut up, will you? My parents are asleep and if you wake them up, I'm going to hit you." Santana rolls her eyes and walks back over the sink where she had been sitting, Rachel planted on the toilet. She crosses her arms over her chest and sighs, looking over at the brunette sitting, looking more innocent than usual. It probably has something to do with the fact that she's just told Santana that she wants to lose her virginity.

"So you really want to do this, huh?" Santana speaks with somewhat of a laugh and smiles as she looks at Rachel. "I mean, he has a girlfriend and everything." Santana looks at Rachel with her smile still intact, but she doesn't want to show her how nervous the whole situation makes her. Santana's own virginity was thrown to the wind, and she doesn't want Rachel's to end up in the same way. She's too nice of a girl for anything like that to happen to her. It's why her ride home with Puck never ended up going in the direction he wanted it to.

"I do, I just…" Rachel's voice cuts off as she swallows the lump in her throat, sighing to herself. "I do, I promise. I just… sometimes I wonder if he won't find me pretty enough." She looks down into her lap and begins playing with the hem of her shirt. "What if by the time we're ready to actually… to actually do it, he doesn't like what he sees?" Santana can hear the nerves that make her voice shake when she speaks, and frowns slightly.

"Rach, I wish you would stop with this whole insecure complex." Rachel looks up from her lap and at Santana, who doesn't appear upset, just… frustrated. "Look at me, okay?" She moves her hand up to Rachel's face and begins wiping tears away from her eyes with her thumb. "You are a beautiful girl, you know? I don't care if you don't look like Quinn, because you know, not all of us do. Besides, most of Quinn isn't exactly real, anyway." Santana laughs a bit to herself as she wipes Rachel's eyes, mindful not to smear her eyeliner. "She was a real ugly kid back in middle school." She looks at Rachel with a smile and kneels down in front of her as Rachel sits on the toilet. "Look, if Finn loves you and you love him, neither of you are going to care what you look like once you're naked, or whatever you're worried about. All that's going to matter is that he loves you and you love him, alright?" Rachel smiles and Santana takes her by the hand, giving it a squeeze. "And trust me, he loves you." Rachel's face lights up.

"He does?"

"Why would I lie to you? Of course he does!" Santana smiles and stands to reach the medicine cabinet, fishing out a small box. "Alright, so I'm going to give you a box of condoms… and I would give you my birth control pills, but I don't think it's a good idea to give you prescription pills… besides, I need them probably more than you do." Rachel looks at Santana attentively from the toilet.

"Pills? What are you talking about?" She looks at Santana inquisitively and quirks an eyebrow. "My mother always told me that the rhythm method was the best way to prevent a pregnancy."

Rachel hears Santana scoff, turning around to face her. "The rhythm method?" She cackles to herself for a bit, walking over to Rachel and handing her the box of condoms. "Rach, that's from forever ago. That's how my parents got pregnant with me." Rachel looks down into her lap shamefully and inspects the box of condoms, quirking an eyebrow. "We'll go down to the drugstore Burtorrow and get you set up with box of birth control pills. Besides, Finn's going to need time to break up with Quinn, and you'll need time for the pills to go into effect, so it's perfect." Rachel doesn't understand how she's able to swallow a pill and prevent a pregnancy, but she knows by now to ask Santana. She's been told that she's only supposed to ask Finn all of her questions about the technology and new things that the 21st century brings, and no one else.

Oh, no.

She can't ask Finn about contraception pills. He's the very reason she's going to be taking them. Rachel feels her heart begin to pound in her chest and her palms begin to sweat. "Santana?"

"Yes?"

"You'll answer any questions I have… right?"

Santana smiles and laughs a bit, ruffling the hair on Rachel's head. "Of course, Smurfette. Anything you need."